Former U.S. attorney sentenced for child pornography

A re-sentencing hearing was held Monday in a federal court in East St. Louis for former attorney Gary E. Peel, 67, of Glen Carbon, IL, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced on Tuesday.

On Mar 23, 2007, a federal jury sitting in East St. Louis, Illinois, found Peel guilty of one count of bankruptcy fraud, one count of obstruction of justice related to the bankruptcy count, and two counts of possession of child pornography.

The jury found that Peel had attempted to blackmail his ex-wife in the course of a bankruptcy proceeding by threatening to disclose sexually explicit photographs taken of his ex-wife's younger sister when she was 16 years old.

Peel had previously received a prison sentence of 144 months. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that either the bankruptcy fraud or obstruction of justice charge should be dismissed, that the court should recalculate the intended amount of fraud in the bankruptcy proceeding, and that Peel should be re-sentenced.

At Monday's re-sentencing the court dismissed the obstruction of justice charge and again sentenced Peel to a term of imprisonment of 144 months.

Peel received a concurrent sentence of 120 months' imprisonment on each of the two child pornography counts and a sentence of 24 months on the bankruptcy fraud count to run consecutively to the child pornography counts, for a total of 144 months.

"Those who possess child pornography, prey on the innocence of others, and use the legal system as a weapon for their own personal gain, are deserving of stiff sentences such as this." said United States Attorney Wigginton. "My office has, and will continue to pursue those who violate the law, no matter their station in life."